July 22, 2004, 8:56 a.m.
Letters

WADE HORN READS THE CORNER

Jonah Goldberg wrote on NRO's "The Corner" that President Bush's Healthy Marriage Initiative is an intrusive "big government" proposal. To the contrary, supporting healthy marriages contributes to the conservative project of limited government.

As the assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I oversee 65 programs and a budget of $47 billion. From welfare to foster care to child-support enforcement, family fragmentation directly contributes to the demand for these government services.

All good conservatives want smaller government. To achieve that end, we need a plan. Merely wishing it were so is not a plan. The fact is that children (and adults) living in healthy and stable marriages are less in need of government services. By offering marriage-education services — on a purely voluntary basis — to interested couples whereby they can develop the knowledge and skills necessary to form and sustain healthy marriages, we will help reduce the need for more intrusive government interventions later on.

Granted, this is new work. Nobody knows for sure whether it will succeed. But one thing is certain: Unless we can reverse the decline of marriage, demand for an ever-expanding welfare state will continue. The president's Healthy Marriage Initiative is no panacea, but it's a step in the right direction.

Wade F. Horn, Ph.D.
Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.

*   *   *

YOU’RE NOT A SUBSCRIBER TO NATIONAL REVIEW? Sign up right now! It’s easy: Subscribe to National Review here, or to the digital version of the magazine here. You can even order a subscription as a gift: print or digital!